BRAZOS COUNTY, Texas (KRHD) — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is pushing to remove Cesar Chavez Day events and celebrations across the state following new allegations that the late labor and civil rights leader sexually abused women and girls.
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After Wednesday's fallout from the allegations, Texas is seeing new action from state leaders, including moves to rename, postpone, and cancel events honoring Chavez.
Labor rights activist Dolores Huerta, who worked closely with Chavez, is among those who recently came forward with allegations. In a statement, Huerta said she feared speaking out could harm the farmworker movement she spent decades building.
JoDee Neil, a Texas attorney and abuse survivor from the Fort Worth-Dallas area, told 15 ABC this moment could signal a larger reckoning and impact how sex abuse survivors are heard going forward.
"There comes a point where you just can't stay silent anymore," Neil said.
"We need to make a larger point of it. We need to take a stronger stance, which is that survivors, you are safe to come forward," Neil said.
Neil knows this experience firsthand and told 15 ABC she lived through that silence.
"I did not disclose my own abuse until last year," Neil said.
Neil told 15 ABC while Chavez helped break down barriers for farm workers, that does not excuse his alleged actions.
"We need to acknowledge the movement that he created and the advancements for labor inequality. But we cannot worship the man anymore," Neil said.
"I feel so, kindred spirits with the survivors and especially Dolores Huerta, who made her own disclosure at age 96," Neil said.
"She was injured. She was living in a state of injury, which is what sexual abuse does to a survivor. It makes you frozen," Neil said.
Neil hopes these stories give other survivors the courage to come forward too.
"I know that survivors everywhere across the world actually are seeing all of these headlines and seeing the bravery of those who are stepping forward," Neil said.
"We need to take it many, many steps further to get survivors the support that they really need to heal," Neil said.
Abbott is working with the legislature to permanently remove the holiday from state law during the 2027 session.
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